Gypsum panels, or wallboards, are used in commercial and residential building construction to form the partitions or walls of rooms, hallways, ceilings, and the like, and in exterior wall or roof construction.
In commercial or institutional applications, gypsum board products may have fire resistance ratings of one hour or higher. However, to achieve such fire resistance ratings, boards having a thickness of ½ inch or greater are very heavy, with weights of at least 1800 pounds per thousand square feet (lb/msf). Moreover, to achieve a fire resistance rating of one hour or more, these boards typically include a number of additives in the core in relatively large proportions. Due to their high weight and the cost associated with manufacturing cores containing the necessary additives, such boards are generally not used in residential construction.
Instead, lower weight boards, with weights of 1450 lb/msf or lower, are typically used in residential construction. However, these low weight boards typically do not achieve a 30 or 45 minute fire resistance performance level, even with the addition of core additives to improve their fire resistance.
Accordingly, gypsum panels and cores having improved fire resistance and high temperature board integrity are desirable.